You Are Here
by Shaveza
Summary: My eyes are your eyes. My thoughts are your thoughts. My senses are yours to explore my world. My emotions you will feel as if they were your own. My name is Link and for the duration of this story, it will be yours as well.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** _The Legend of Zelda_ is the intellectual property of _Nintendo_. I make no money from this work and write it simple for the pure pleasure of daydreaming about the awesome world of Hyrule.

**Edited 10.20.2011. **(Catching all the little him/me/I mistakes. There isn't any retconning.)

**Summary: **My eyes are your eyes. My thoughts are your thoughts. My senses are yours to explore my world. My emotions you will feel as if they were your own. My name is Link and for the duration of this story, it will be yours as well. After all, you are me and I am you.

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>You Are Here<br>Chapter 1  
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<strong>-=-=-=<strong>**-=-=-=****

_It was as if the very sky itself had caught fire._

_I stand trembling the wake of a white, four-legged creature that tears away from me. It carries two girls, one of which who is very tall—taller than any girl I've seen. I cannot make out their faces. The scenery is blurred so heavily by smoke that I begin to choke on it._

_The fire is all around me!_

_My heart beats rapidly in his chest. Tears leak from my eyes._

_I can't breathe here!_

_A black creature that reflects the firelight paces out from the flame's depths. It seems as if the beast has hair made of flame and that its eyes shine with the fire as well. A very tall, broad, dark-skinned boy sits upon its back, as flame-haired and ember-eyed as the creature he rides. But the eyes are all I can see in detail. _

_They are eyes of a kind I've never seen before and _never_ want to see again. I have no name for the cold, scalding fire I see in them. _

_The smoke wreathes around him. It's as if he's wearing it. The fire licks at him, but does not harm him. He is its master._

_One hand lifts and begins to glow like the sun that sometimes peaks through the canopy of the Woods. A flick of the wrist and the sphere is sent hurtling towards me._

_It connects and _I scream, shooting upright in bed, heart pounding and eyes wide.

"Geez, I can't believe the fate of Hyrule rests on the shoulders of such a lazy boy! Oh! You're awake! Finally!" A tiny, high girl's voice rings somewhere above my head but I pay no mind to it, still partially in the hold of my nightmare.

My eyes are slow to register the space of my tree house and once I had, I gratefully sank back down at stared at the fairy above me. That dream has come far too many times these past lunar cycles. I don't want to dream that dream anymore. I'm so sick of it that my heart hurts.

"I'm not lazy, I was having a nightmare," I say flatly, angry. Mido is _always_ accusing me of laziness. "What are you doing in my house? I don't recognize you."

"The Great Deku Tree asked me to fetch you!" The fairy declares, flying lower. "I'm Navi, Link. Nice to meet you!"

I see past the glow, at the hand-sized fairy within. A pretty girl-fairy with wide bug-like eyes and hair in tiny braids, some coiled atop her head, some loose, dressed in a leaf-fiber dress, vine-fiber bracelets woven with tiny morning dew beads on one upper arm and both ankles and wrists. Her light was a pretty shade of cobalt blue.

No two fairies have the exact same color, except for Fountain Fairies which are only a singular hue of pink that no other fairy has. The Fountain Fairies are really just globs of Great Fairy magic with wing-like 'strings' attached to hold the magic blobs together. Guidance Fairies, like Navi, would die if they were ever forced to heal. They also only have cool colors as their spectrum. None of us Kokiri knows what kind of fairies are all the warm colors. It doesn't concern us…or so I've been told by the others' fairies.

"The Great Deku Tree?" I blink as I push myself back up.

"Yup! Now come on!" The fairy flies behind my head and begins to push against me with as much strength as she can muster.

My stomach growls. "At least let me eat breakfast, please." I wasn't entirely sure this wasn't some elaborate trick on Mido's part. He and the others have done stuff like this before. I'm wiser now…I think, but a part of me still hopes that the Great Deku Tree _does_ want to see me.

I am a fairyless Kokiri…I _should_ have a fairy companion, like all my brothers and sisters, but I don't. I try not to sulk about it…but it's difficult. I have to do almost twice the work of anyone else in the Village to prove I'm not a 'broken branch', like Mido says, and can keep my own council without a fairy companion to guide me.

"Do you mind if I share?" Navi asks meekly. "I haven't had much chance for food either."

I pause and then carefully repress a sigh. "Alright." I don't want anyone accusing me of abusing a fairy, which was punishable by exile from the village. I cut up parts of the raw tubers and mushrooms I'm going to eat into fairy-sized pieces. "Is it enough?"

"More than!" The fairy alights on the table and begins to eat. I do my best to ignore just how much this hurts. Sharing meals with one's fairy is something we're supposed to do and it silences me to share this meal with a random fairy sent to fetch me.

I'm quick about my meal, but I don't feel very hungry anymore. Navi's presence only reminds me that I'm different from the others. There has to be something wrong with me that no fairy wants me. I have always held the private opinion that I'm sick. Maybe I _am_ a 'broken branch', but I won't let anyone else realize that I agree with Mido. I might as well get lost in the Forest.

Some animals in the Forest were born with defects and most didn't survive past birthing and those that did always had shorter lifespans.

I've decided I'm like those animals.

_'Perhaps_…,' I realize, '_perhaps my time had come and that's why the Great Deku Tree has called me.'_

I look around my house, wondering if I should make everything tidy. I decide not to, because surely Mido would want to take my tree house over (he has always been jealous of my house) and it would annoy him to have to clean up everything before rearranging it to his liking.

"I'm done!" Navi chirps.

"Me too," I reply, collecting the hand-carved wooden dishes to put them to soak in a bucket of water. Dishes are done at the end of the day, after all meals are taken.

I grab my belt and cinch my tunic to my waist, then walk to the ladder while tugging on my long green cap and secure my money pouch to my belt.

I'm almost to the ground when I hear a voice call my name, "Link!"

My head turns to look over my shoulder. There I see Saria, my truest friend in the Village, racing down the slight incline with her green fairy Iren.

"Morning, Saria," Link called, managing a small smile for the grass-haired Kokiri girl. "Hi, Iren."

"Good morning, Link," Iren replies courteously. He doesn't like me anymore than Mido and a few of the other Kokiri do, but at least he's polite…if only not to upset Saria.

Kokiri, I have long since noticed, have large, deep eyes and are thinly boned—we look a little like small trees moving through the Lost woods at a distance with their boots of soft, flexible wood bark sometimes padded with Wolfos fur (as mine are—a gift from Saria) and green clothing woven of a leaf fiber and decorated with flowers and vines for accessories. Their hair has the colors and texture of plants within the Lost Woods. Because Father Deku was unable to move from his grove, each child had a fairy companion to help them judge right from wrong, to remind them of tasks that need doing, and to join in the Kokiri's play afterwards so that everyone has at least one companion.

I know I'm none of the above. My bones are thicker and while I wear nothing different from the rest of my brothers and sisters, I do not have their fluid grace, and my hair is more like animal fur and an unusual gold blonde color I cannot seem to match to anything quite right. My eyes are smaller, more clearly colored. And I have no fairy, which is something very difficult not to dwell on.

_'All my other differences wouldn't be so noticeable_,' I think, '_if I just had a fairy like the rest.'_

I jump the last couple rungs to the ground.

Another difference I have noted was that my body isn't as tough as everyone else's. All these things complied into a list of reasons why I'm sick and was probably going to die soon.

I turn to Saria, wondering at her sudden silence. She is not looking at me, but the cobalt fairy light above me. "What?"

"A fairy! A fairy's finally come to you, Link!" Saria beamed at me. "Did you know her light matches your eyes?"

I grimace. Though it's kind of Saria to say it's more like a lance through the heart, "Uh, no…Navi here just came to tell me the Great Deku Tree wanted to see me."

Saria deflates, realizing she's accidentally picked at the injury, but then she goes right back to giving me a brilliant smile. She knows to apologize would only wedge open the wound further. "Is that right? It's quite an honor to talk to the Father. I'll wait here for you, okay? Go and see Him!"

I blink at Saria a moment, then nod and run off while waving goodbye to her and Iren.

Mido is in front of the path that leads to the Great Deku Tree. Silently, I groan. This was going to be an unexpected chore.

"What are you doing here, Mr. No Fairy," Mido ribs, gleefully watching my approach. He's glad of the chance to make fun of me.

"The Great Deku Tree has summoned Link!" Navi says.

"Whaaaaat?" Mido drawled, looking rather put out. "But he's not even a real man!" Then he does a double take at Navi and looks at me. "Hey! When you'd get a fairy?"

"I didn't," I reply stonily. "Navi's Father Deku's messenger, that's all."

"Hmph!" Mido crosses his arm, his fairy Cecelia mimicks his movements and plops down on top his head. "Doesn't matter either way if you don't have a sword or shield prepared!"

"Huh?" I stare at Mido, wondering if he made that up just now. "A sword and shield?"

"Sheesh! Are you hard of hearing?" Mido snaps. "I don't get why the Great Deku Tree would summon you instead of the Great Mido."

I snicker. Great Mido…yeah right!

Mido puffs up, glowering at me, "This isn't funny…!"

"It is when you're pouting like a little _boy_!" I jeer, giving a grin. Then I jump the stream before he can retaliate. I spin and cup my hands to my mouth. "I'll be back with that shield and sword, Mido!"

I jump over the water again and run into the Store. I've been to the Store a bunch of times. The wooden Deku Shield costs 40 rupees. I've saved what rupees I've found for a long time. I've enough for them.

I rush back outside to wave the shield in Mido's direction, nearly hitting Navi.

"Sorry, Navi," I apologize.

"It's fine!" Navi giggles. "Do you know where to find a sword?"

"Not a clue, do you?" I ask.

"Nu-uh! Hey, maybe your Saria friend knows."

Saria does know a lot about the Lost Woods.

"That bum," Saria sighs, when I tell her about Mido. "He's so mean to everyone…but it's a good idea, I should've suggested it. The Woods…well, I think I saw the Gardener to put it simply."

I flinch.

Mother's Gardener—a monster called a ReDead whose shriek is a warning for Kokiri to return to the Forest. It is the only monster of its kind in all the Lost Woods, Saria has told me, and it's different from the normal kind (though Saria doesn't know what the normal kind looks like either).

The last time we heard her shriek, there was a forest fire that surrounded the entire Village. _We_ were perfectly safe, my siblings and I. Mother does not permit the fires to enter the Village.

But that was when I became afraid of fire. I eat my food raw rather than start a cooking fire and curl up in layers of blankets to keep warm during winter seasons. It's silly, really, but I don't like fire.

"Anyways, go up there," Saria points to the ledge above our heads that's even with my tree house. "There's a hole that leads into a special part of the Woods. You can find a sword there." She gives me a sad little smile. Does she know something I don't? Or has she known what I've long ago deduced about myself? If anyone were to know, it would be Saria. She's the only constant throughout my short collection of memories.

"Thanks, Saria," I say.

Navi and I go up to where Kane was practicing flips while his violet-blue hued fairy Rosa kept count. Navi darts through a small opening that would've been more than enough for normal Kokiri, but was a little snug for me. I had to wiggle forward on my stomach to get through.

I hear some sort of loud grinding rumble when I pull myself out of the hole and dust off my clothes. "What's that sound?"

"That." The fairy points to my left.

I watch in shock as a bolder twice my height came spinning around on the path and back out of sight.

"You have to get around that," Navi remarks.

"What?" I shout.

Navi squirms a bit. "If you follow it when it comes back around, it should be easy, Link!"

"And if I get squished?" I ask.

"Well…you…you've got to get a sword, don't you?" Navi's cobalt blue light tinges pink. "Just…just follow the rock!" She darts off and I sigh. I hurt her feelings.

I watch boulder roll by again. "I'm going to punch Mido for this." And then I give chase.

It isn't moving as fast as it appears, I realize, and it _was_ easy. Navi is waiting at a turn off for me. "How does it keep movingin a circle like that, Navi?"

"Forest magic," Navi says simply. "The Kokiri Sword is just over there, in that big chest."

"Thanks," I reply, oblique apology for my earlier harshness coloring my tone.

"You're welcome," Navi says. And I know I'm forgiven.

The Kokiri Sword isn't much longer that my arm, once I've fetched it from the chest. I have Navi stay well out of my way as I swing it experimentally, having only ever done play swordfights with sturdy branches fallen from trees (pretend fighting is one of the few games I'm really good at) made of a glinting material Navi says was some sort of metal (and that there were a lot of types of metals) that reflects the sun.

I remember the dream, how the black creature with fiery hair had reflected the light of the fire. Was the creature covered by metal? Or was it a metal creature? I think it's the former, because the white creature had not reflected the fire like the black one.

Though the sword is a lot heavier than a stick I'm still able to hold it easily in my left hand (Navi said to use it in my dominant hand and I'm a leftie, the only one in the Village (another point of contention with Mido). The blade was _very_ sharp. It was a tool, not a toy. I can tell.

I hold the shield and sword at the same time, just to get used to doing it. I've done it play with a branch, but holding the Kokiri Sword is…different.

I'm not sure I like the difference. The longer I stare at the silver blade, the more a weird, tight feeling in my stomach grows. No, I really don't like this.

"Okay, let's go," I say quickly, sliding the sword into the sheath that is now belted over my shoulder and manage to hook the shield onto it as well. I wait for the boulder to roll around again and follow it back out.

My mood lightens considerably by the fit Mido puts on when I show back up, shield and sword thumping against my back.

"How'd you find the Kokiri Sword?" Mido demands. He's still stubbornly trying to stop me. He'll relent though if he wants to avoid getting in trouble, but I humor him.

"I asked Saria," I reply honestly.

Mido stomps off to the side, "Well, even with all that stuff, a wimp is still a wimp! I, the Great Mido, will never accept you as one of us!"

I try not to grimace and quickly go down the path. Those sorts of words are the ones that _really_ hurt.

"Shoot! How'd he get to be the favorite of Saria and Father Deku," I catch Mido grumbling.

I nearly trip into a stiff-necked Deku Baba that's spinning around on its stalk. The weed hasn't gotten enough water, obviously.

Being Saria's favorite would be nice…but how could I be a favorite of Father Deku?

Navi flies ahead. "Great Deku Tree, I'm back! I've brought Link with me, too!" The encouraging note within her voice worries me for some reason.

"Oh…Navi…thou hast returned," the Great Deku Tree replies. I have to listen extra hard to the creaks of wood and his leaves' trembling to understand Him and that's troubling. I haven't had to focus on listening for the Great Deku Tree since Saria first brought me to the Village. "Link…welcome, child. Listen carefully to what I, the Great Deku Tree, am about to tell thee…."

Mido's resemblance to our Father is suddenly uncanny.

"…Thy slumber the last several moons must have been tiresome for thee…full of nightmares…."

I stare rudely at my Father for a moment, astonished. "How did you know, Father Deku?"

"The servants of evil gain strength and as their vileness spreads through the lands corners, it causes nightmare to those sensitive to it. I have felt it…and verily, for thou is also attuned to such things, have felt it." The Great Deku Tree makes a sound in His branches I can only equate to a horrible cough.

"Father Deku? Are you alright?" I lean forwards anxiously.

"Link, the time has come to test thy courage. I have been cursed." There's another horrible 'coughing' and several leaves begin falling from His spread of branches. I catch one. It is still a bright healthy green, but then it rapidly browns and crumbles to dust. "I need you to break the curse with your wisdom and courage. Dost though have courage enough to undertake this task?"

I falter. What could _I_ do about a curse?

_Maybe that's why you were born so different_, my mind whispers (a hopeful part that I did not realize I have). _You've been the best in the pretend swordfights. Maybe you're the only one who _can_ do anything about a curse._

How long has the Great Deku Tree been dying? He sounds like he's bad shape.

"Perhaps you do not yet have confidence in your abilities…," the Great Deku Tree creaks. "Return to the Kokiri Forest to—"

"No! I am!" I'm quick to say, though interrupting is rude. "I was just surprised that you chose _me_to come. I'm….

I trail off uncertainly. Then I finish, "I'm so _different._"

Something like a reassuring laugh comes from Father Deku, "You are both more and less different than you believe." The words end in a ragged cough.

Those words chill me through to the core than the cough.

"Then enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi the fairy, for thou must aid Link and Link—listen to Navi. She is knowledgeable for one so young. Listen to her," the Great Deku Tree says. A knot in the wood that resembles a lower lip sinks to the ground, presenting a mouth through which I'm to proceed.

I tremble as I walk to the gaping opening and step as lightly over the lip as I can.

Another wracking cough is what hurries me further inside the Great Deku Tree.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** _The Legend of Zelda_ is the intellectual property of _Nintendo_. I make no money from this work and write it simple for the pure pleasure of daydreaming about the awesome world of Hyrule.

**Special thanks** to RedWolf23, Bara-chan, and Arkbird who all reviewed last chapter. You guys really made my day. And a thanks to my sister for beta-ing this chapter and helping me fix my mistakes on the last chapter.

**Summary: **My eyes are your eyes. My thoughts are your thoughts. My senses are yours to explore my world. My emotions you will feel as if they were your own. My name is Link and for the duration of this story, it will be yours as well.

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>You Are Here<br>Chapter 2  
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<strong>

"So _this_ is what the Great Deku Tree looks like on the inside," Navi says with awe.

It's strange to think of Father Deku as hollow as the tunnel exit from the Village that the growns are said to use. Living trees aren't supposed to be hollow, but Father Deku isn't just a _tree_, so it really doesn't matter to me. I've never given it much thought.

I avoid the Deku Babas, though a few try to snap at me, and look at the thin, whitish, stringy film that covers a hole in the floor. It looks like a giant spider web.

I find a Deku Baba with a stiff stem and cut it. It gives a tiny squeal of shock, but it doesn't bother me. Mido has often put me on weeding out Deku Baba detail around the Village so I'm used to them.

The stem rapidly hardens now that it's off the roots and the head shrivels after I trim it off. I use the Deku Stick to see if the 'web' covering the hole in the floor is sticky.

It isn't, but it is tough and flexible. I can bounce on it. I just wish I had time to enjoy it. Maybe the Great Deku Tree would tell me how I can find a web like this and rig it on some sort of structure over the ground. It'd be a fun toy for my siblings and I to have.

"Maybe it'll break if you jump from a height?" Navi suggests. "Or you could try burning it, since the Great Deku Tree's wood is flame proof."

"I'd rather try to jump," I reply abruptly. "I see water down there."

"But what if it's not deep enough?" Navi worries, fluttering about my head.

"Father Deku's sick, I'd rather not risk fire," I say.

"Broken legs wouldn't help Him much either," Navi argues.

"Well no," I admit, "but there's not exactly a ready source of fire nearby." Much to my relief.

"Might as well explore up for now then," Navi agrees. "I'll scout on ahead!"

"Okay," I reply. Navi soars up into the hollow space of Father Deku's trunk and I follow by using the vines that cling to the wall surfaces to reach a higher level. There are more vines, Skullwalltula covers the vines and there's no way I can climb. I can only throw a rock so high.

I find several rolled up Wolfos hides that turned out to be a set of maps lying on the ground underneath the wall with the Skullwalltula. I stick it in my belt. Once we have the orientation, we go exploring the room on this level.

Thick vines keep a stone slab in suspense in the middle of the room a good ten feet over the bottom of the ridge I stand on. I make the jump onto it and the slab swings. The vines creak ominously and the stone trembles as the vines begin to snap. I quickly jump over to the other side and hit the edge, nearly slip straight off the drop to join the slab, now lying in pieces on the floor.

I pull myself up, Navi tugs uselessly at my collar in an effort to help. It doesn't really, but I thank her anyways. I find just what I need to get up the wall of Skullwalltula—a slingshot and a bag of dried Deku Nuts. It looks like it might fall apart, but it's just dusty. I tie the Deku Nut pouch to my belt and leave.

Back outside the room with the slingshot, I shoot down the Skullwalltula and climb up. There are Skulltula, giant spiders longer than I am tall and I stick close to the wall, edging around to the door up here.

Immediately, bars fall down over the door now that I'm inside. Navi and I stare at the bars for a while, eyes wide. "A puzzle trap?" Navi guesses.

"I…guess we should look around the room," I reply. I hope the door _can_ open. It would be just my luck to fall into a trap so soon.

There's a floor button Navi calls a 'weight switch'. Standing on it lowers it into the floor and causes three slabs of stone to rise out of the floor and enables me to jump across to the other side of the room.

We nearly miss finding a dusty compass there. The glass is cracked, but the needle still spins when I rotate it. I line up the map with the room and become astonished when symbols appear in the same faded ink as the map is drawn in and details are added to the outlines of rooms through Father Deku's body.

"Hey, Link! Come check this out!" Navi's flying in a hole in the wall. I have to go back across to repress the switch. The slabs are too heavy to keep up all the time I guess, but there are vines along the edges to climb up on that side of the room.

Navi's found a Skullwalltula…I think. It's smaller than normal and its carapace is a shiny gold. "How'd it get gold like that?"

"Gold Skulltula!" Navi claims. "I've only read about them. They're part magic, used in curses."

I stiffen and recall the Great Deku Tree's words, "_These_ things are killing the Great Deku Tree?"

"No. Gold Skulltula are the binding points for curses used to protect small places," Navi corrects, understanding, "or to punish people by turning them into Skulltula-like creatures."

"Is Father Deku a small enough place?" I ask.

"Judging from the maps…no," she replies.

"So somewhere, someone's cursed?" I suggest.

"Probably," Navi agrees.

It's enough to know and I step forwards and swing the Kokiri Sword through it, bisecting it between cephalothorax and abdomen. It hits the ground with a thud, bursts into blue-gold flames (from which I step back), and leaves only the golden head behind like a gruesome token.

It doesn't seem right to leave the Gold Skulltula there and leave someone somewhere in the world under a curse…like the Great Deku Tree is right now. Navi says I should take it to give it two whoever's cursed…if we are lucky enough to find them.

I need a bag.

The slingshot is stuffed in my belt with the map and the Deku Seeds are tied on. I use my long cap as a makeshift bag, stuff the gold token into its depths and then tie the cap onto my baldric. My belt feels like it's about to come off already.

It takes lighting a brazier room to open up the door. I'm sure Navi has seen my reluctance to handle fire by now, but if so she doesn't say anything about it.

I kill one of the Skulltula. So far, it seems like there's only bugs and plants inside the Great Deku Tree. It's nothing I can't handle, really, so maybe this won't be so hard. I weed the Village of Deku Baba during the spring and help with any Skullwalltula infestations all the time. The Skulltula are more than double the size of Skullwalltula, but it's not all that different…except for how much louder they shriek when stabbed.

_That_ is unnerving.

"I can't believe you're going to jump," Navi scolds.

"The only fire is in that one room, Navi," I argue. "I won't be able to get down fast enough before the Deku Stick burns out."

"But still!" Navi hovers just over the drop worriedly.

I back up to the wall. "Here I go, Navi. See you at the bottom."

I make a running jump. The wind rushes past my ears (an amazing feeling) and I hit the web. It immediately begins to sink, slowing my fall. and just when I think it's about to go back up, breaks. I continue to fall and the water below breaks it. It's deep enough that I don't hit bottom and I kick up, breathing in a gasp of air.

"Link! Are you okay?" Navi flutters over my head as I swim to a shallower end and half-float, half-sit there.

"Uh-huh. That was sort of fun actually," I reply with an effort to smile.

Navi sags in the air a moment. "At least there's vine so you can climb back up. And hey! Another Gold Skulltula! _Two_ of them!" There's one on the vines and another clinging to a set of metal bars. It takes a bit to nab the one over the bars, but I manage it after a few jumps.

After that, stepping on a switch lights up a torch, and I have to handle fire again to burn a web away from a door. I think I don't completely freak out only because all the water is there. All I would have to do is jump if the fire gets out of control is jump in there and I would be safe.

I hate this.

I hate it even more when the entire thing goes in a giant circle just so I can get up to the higher half of the first room to push a block off so I can climb back up to set fire to a web covering a hole in the floor. I would've preferred to have a high ledge to jump from like before.

Navi's speculation on what the curse monster making the Great Deku Tree doesn't help either. She thinks it's something called a Gohma. I don't ask what that is and just assume it's a bigger version of the larva we found in the room before that started her on that theory. I'd rather not find out until we get there.

In the area that's next to last are these three Deku Scrubs spread out across the room. According to another Deku Scrub I beat up earlier, I have to beat these three in a particular order. The clue I was given was: Twenty-three is number one!

It didn't make much sense.

"One, two, and three," Navi whispers, she points to each Deku Scrub in turn. I haven't climbed up out of the water I've fallen into, peaking over the edge instead before I commit myself to getting pelted. She points again, "Two, three, one?"

"That makes sense," I say.

I haul myself out of the water; hurriedly yank my shield from my back as I hear the _pidth _of Deku Nuts being spat out from wooden mouths. I go after the Scrub in the middle first by batting its neighbor's Deku Nut at it when it pokes its head above ground. It squeaks loudly in protest, rolling backwards. It stays put where it falls against the wall and glowers at me, but doesn't do anything else. I turn to the third Scrub in the room.

And then a Deku Nut from the first strikes me in the back. Pain explodes in a burning, stinging sensation, like a giant bee just stung me several times.

I yelp and stumble forwards. My shield accidentally deflects another nut from the third. I roll to the side, a Deku Nut flying past me to collide with a nut spat by the third. I scramble to my feet and hold my shield ready, trying to keep both enemies in sight.

I _never _want to have my back turned to an attacking creature ever again if I can help it.

My back throbs sharply and I huddle behind my shield to deflect Deku Nuts, not really aiming at anything. It feels worse now for some reason. I bite my lip.

"Are you okay, Link?" Navi asks in concern.

"It _really_ hurts," I mumble.

"It _sounded_ pretty painful," Navi sympathizes. She pats my hair comfortingly, but she doesn't realize that though I appreciate her kindness, it drives home that I do not have a companion yet again. It hurts even worse, because I have started to like Navi a lot and I know she'll leave once I've cured the Great Deku Tree.

After a minute, my shield arm begins to get tired. The pain isn't so bad anymore, so I move to hit the third Deku Scrub. A Nut scrapes against my shoulder in the process, but that pain isn't as bad as in my back.

After knocking out the third, I go after the first. I can take a short break afterwards…I hope.

The first and final Scrubs runs around frantically when I jar it loose of its plant pod. I eventually catch up to it and give it a good kick.

"Ow, ow, ow!" The Scrub whines. "That hurt!"

"So did the nut you hit my back with," I retort shortly. The Scrub pouts and the other two toddle over.

"How'd you know our secret?" The second demands.

"How irritating!" The third complains.

"It's so annoying that we have to reveal the secret of Queen Gohma to you!" The first states bitterly. "But we don't want to die either!"

I stare in surprise. I wouldn't kill a Scrub!

The third begins, "In order to administer the coup de grace to Queen Gohma…."

"…Strike with your sword while she's stunned," the second completes.

"Oh, Queenie!" The first moans. "Sorry about that!" The three Scrubs go back to their plant pods and go back into them. The bars blocking the door rise up.

I'm about to sit down, but the first scrub pops up. "Go now!"

I glare, but listen and go through the door, walking along the short hall into a larger room. It slams shut seconds after I pass through.

The room is dark. I can barely see the opposite wall. I'd wish for a lamp if I didn't fear fire so much. I stick close to the wall, rubbing my stinging shoulder and resting my back against the cool stone of the door to ease the ache a bit.

_Kree-kree. Kree-kree._

I look around nervously as the sound starts up.

"Link," Navi hisses. She sounds alarmed. "Look up."

I regret obeying that order.

Hanging from the web that makes up the ceiling, I found this huge…_thing_.

It has a big yellow eye with a green iris and a segmented red pupil. The skin around it looks like a pair of lips or very swollen lids (the first idea is grosser than the second). No words come to mind to describe this monster. It just disgusting to look at—all dark red with sickly yellow splotches and a green glow coming from a pair of bulbous sacs. It's 'tail' is fleshy and hangs in misshapen folds. Looking at it, I want to vomit.

And then it sees me and gives a piercing cry that makes my hair stand on end. It crawled rapidly along the web and dropped down in front of me, its revolting eye in the mouth-like socket staring at me widely.

I stare back.

What am I supposed to do?

"RUN, LINK!" Navi's screech makes me jump back in surprise. One of thing things monstrous 'claws' (whatever that is) slam into the ground.

I bolt across the room.

"What am I supposed to _do?_" I wail.

I want out. I'm scared. I'm trapped.

The things footfalls tell my blank mind that I'm being followed.

There's nowhere to run.

"Throw a Deku Nut!" Navi screams that three times before I can hear her. This is terrifying.

I throw a Deku Nut wildly behind me. It doesn't hit anything with enough force to crack open. I throw another, but again, no flash of light. I can't throw it properly without stopping.

"Link!" Navi pleads. "You've got to stop!"

"It'll get me!" I'm so scared.

"You've got to, Link!"

"_NO!_"

That thing will kill me if I stop.

"You'll die if you just keep running!"

'_And what does it matter?' _My thoughts hiss resentfully._ 'I'm dying anyways.'_

The thought nearly makes me trip.

I am dying. What _did_ it matter?

I stumble into one of the pillars in the room and instinctively use it to sling myself around. The creature is plodding towards me.

I'm so scared.

I grab a Deku Nut and use the pillar to hide my eyes from the resulting flash as I throw it properly this time.

The creatures scream and collapses, its single eye rolling, the yellow turned red from the flash. It's stunned, its red pupil shrunken down.

"Kill it with the sword!" Navi encourages, flying around the eye rapidly, trying to flash it with her light to delay the thing from getting its bearings back as quickly.

I cry, "How?"

"Stab its eye!" Navi cries back.

"What?" I just stare stupidly. I look at the rolling eye. "Stab it?"

"Queen Gohma is making the Great Deku Tree sick!" Navi explains. She squeaks and darts back to me to hide in my hair.

Queen Gohma gets back up to whatever it passes off for feet. The monster glowers hatefully at me. I whimper and stare, frozen.

It stomps to the wall and places the two weirdly shaped claws up on the wall and the grotesque fleshy tail pushes itself back up to hang upside from the web, the tail sways sickeningly in the air.

"Slingshot, Link!" Navi hisses into my ear.

I fumble for it obediently, pulling it out and loading it up with a dried Deku Seed. My hands shake badly. All I feel is fear.

The eye locks on me when the monster stops in the middle of the web. It's eye widens, the yellow darkening to red. It's staring at me. The tail convulses sickeningly.

"Hit it with the seeds!" Navi tries to encourage.

I fire a seed, but it misses entirely. I tremble too much to aim.

The tail shudders horribly and an egg falls to the floor and bounces. It's followed by two more. One by one they crack open and a Gohma Larvae scuttles out and immediately head in my direction. The Queen Gohma continues to _kree-kree_ across the web above me.

I saw the larvae form earlier. These aren't quite as scary and focusing on them calms me down. I take them out with the slingshot okay.

The Queen Gohma drops straight down in front of me. A scream tears from my throat. I fall and land on my back, staring up into the eye. It's all I can see—Queen Gohma's eye. All I can hear is its breathing. Navi screams advice, but it doesn't reach my ears. All that reaches me is my own fear and terror.

_I'm going to die. I've always been going to die. But I don't want to. I've never wanted to die. But I'm going to die either way._

_But I don't want to die right here._

I hold the slingshot up and fire a Deku Seed straight into the eye.

Queen Gohma squeals and rears back. I flinch as something wet hits my shoulder. As I scramble backwards as the monster falls, stunned again. Something's wrong with its eye.

"Use your sword, Link!" Navi cries into my ear.

I clumsily draw the Kokiri Sword and get to my feet. With a lurch forwards, the blade sinks into the eye just as easily as it cut through the Deku Baba stems, Skulltula, Gold Skulltula, and Skullwalltula.

I'm deafened by Queen Gohma's shrill dying shriek. I clamp my hands over my ears and scoot away, crying. My eyes are wide open as they take in the sight of the monster thrashing about, but my mind wants to reject it all.

It's scarier than fighting it.

When it collapses, all I do is stare. The Kokiri Sword is stuck in its eye. There's a blue light that glows off to the right. My slingshot lies between me and Queen Gohma. I never realized I'd dropped it. It's silent now, but I can still hear the death cries.

Navi's light shines in front of my eyes. I flinch and breathe out, then suck a new breath in greedily. I have been holding my breath in.

I realize Navi has been speaking to me…or trying to. With my hands clamped over my ears, she was blocked out. Slowly, I pull my hands away from my ears, but her high voice just rings as random sounds in my head for several moments.

"Huh?" I say weakly.

Navi speaks slowly. "You need to get your slingshot, Link."

"Okay," I swallow. I stare at the slingshot for several long moments. Then I inch for it, not able to stand right away. I stuff the weapon into my belt and shiver at my closeness to the dead monster's corpse.

"You need to get your sword too," Navi says carefully.

I slowly get to my feet and step closer to the dead Queen. I take another step and then another. Two more steps go by in two minutes and the hilt of the Kokiri Sword is within reach. I curl my fingers around the hilt, which causes the blade to slide. The sound is slick and fleshy. It vibrates up the sword and I snatch my hand back to my chest. Dark liquid spills out in a small fall. It splashes across the floor and against my boots.

I know what it is, but I won't think it.

"C'mon, Link. You can do it," Navi encourages.

I really just want to leave the sword there. The echo of the flesh of the eye being cut through the sword…. It still vibrates in my fingers!

"Do it quick," Navi suggests.

I follow the advice. My hands dart out and grabs the Kokiri Sword's hilt to yank hard. The sickening vibration of slicing flesh to pull the sword out echoes into my hands and I lose my grip. The Kokiri Sword drops and hits the floor with a faint splash as it lands in the liquid on the floor. I slip as well, falling back to by bottom and catching myself with my hands.

There's more of the liquid now coming from the eye. The blue light to my right distorts the color so I don't have to give it all a name. There's so much of the stuff.

I stand hurriedly and retrieve the weapon. The hilt is slippery and I nearly drop it again. I have to use my tunic to wipe away the bl…the stuff from the hilt and my hands so I can hold it.

"This way, Link!" Navi calls as she flies backwards towards the blue light. Eagerly, I follow at a stumble, anxious to be away from Queen Gohma's corpse. I step into the light, but nothing happens.

"Look there, Link. At your feet!" Navi hovers near my soiled boots.

I stare at the gold and green object lying there. The gold part is shaped like the mark on my wooden shield and has a big green stone set into the swirls of the top. I pick it up with my right hand, my left holds the sword. The light then glows and blinds, forcing my eyes to shut.

The light fades, but not entirely. It is, however, faded enough to bear opening my eyes. I stare stupidly at where I am now, again before the Great Deku Tree. He's speaking, but I have trouble hearing.

I try to speak, but my voice is weak. "I…I'm sorry I," I gasp out.

"He's very weak, Link," Navi says quietly.

"Can't hear," I mumble, a whimper emerging from my lips at the end.

"But you must listen! It's very important," Navi insists.

"He's our Father, of course what he says is important," I snap a bit, voice a bit stronger. Navi quiets down and I try to focus on what the Great Deku Tree is telling me. Navi puts her hand against my face in a manner of comfort.

"Link…thou must know my time is short." I shiver at the sound of the Great Deku's Tree's rasp. It sounds painful.

"I…I killed Queen Gohma, Father Deku," I say. "You…. You'll get better now, right? What do you mean?"

"I knew you wouldst be able to carry out my wishes," the great oak creaks. "Thou hast verily demonstrated thy courage. Well done, Link. I have more to tell ye."

"More of what?" I wonder quietly. I sit down in the grass and do not look at myself. The light here shows the dark liquid for what it is out here. I set the Kokiri sword down and hold the gold Kokiri symbol with the green stone.

"I said I was under a curse. This curse was cast upon my body by a wicked man from the desert," the Great Deku Tree begins. "He uses his magical talent for evil. He is searching for the Sacred Realm that is connected to Hyrule for within the realm of Farore and the other Deities lies a divine relic containing Their essence—the Triforce."

"Mother?" I lean forwards at the mention of Farore, our Goddess Mother who gives birth to all Kokiri.

"Indeed," the Great Deku Tree says. "Now listen carefully. Before time began, before spirits and life existed…three golden Goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule: Din, the Goddess of Power—with Her flaming arms, She cultivated the land and created the red earth—Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom—poured Her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world—and Farore, the Goddess of Courage—with Her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law.

"The three great Goddesses, Their labors completed, departed for the heavens. At the point where the Goddesses left this world for Theirs was left three triangles of sacred gold. The Triforce has become the basis for our world's providence and Its resting place lies between our world and the Sacred Realm. It echoes into our world and into Theirs."

The Great Oak shudders. The motion sends a rainfall of dead leaves to the floor.

"Thou must never allow the desert man in black armor to lay his hands upon the Sacred Triforce…. Thou must never suffer that man, with his evil heart, to enter the Sacred Realm of legend…. That evil man who cast the death curse upon me and sapped my power…."

I feel cold.

"Because of that curse, my end is nigh," the Great Deku Tree informs.

"What?" My eyes are wide and my voice a whisper that cannot be heard by anyone other Navi.

"Though your valiant efforts to break the curse were successful, I was doomed before you started."

"What?" I shout this time and lunge to my feet, the green gem encased in the Kokiri symbol falls to the ground, forgotten.

"Yes," Father Deku seems to nod, which causes another showering of dead leaves. "I will pass away soon…. But do not grieve for me for I have been able to tell you of these important matters…."

I stare, bewildered. What are my siblings and I going to do without our Father?

"This is Hyrule's final hope," the great tree rasps, voice ever weakening. My concentration has to grow in order to catch his dying words. "Go now to Hyrule Castle…find the Princess of Destiny…thou will surely meet her there. Take the Kokiri Emerald with you—the stone for which that evil man cast the curse upon me in hopes to retrieve."

I look down at the stone.

"Navi…the fairy….help Link to carry out my will…I entreat ye…Navi…," the Great Deku tree whispers. He says, "Goodbye," to Navi.

His leaves fall steadily now and I look up. His bark grays and his branches become bare.

"Goodbye, Great Deku Tree," Navi calls back, her tone mournful.

I stare at the dead husk of our Father for a long time.

I feel cold.

"What did you _do?_" Mido's voice tears through the grove.

I spin around. "I—" My words fall flat when I see that the Kokiri have come to see what's happened.

"The Great Deku Tree," Mido moves forwards, followed by the others.

Several of my siblings look at me with obvious fear. I don't understand.

"I...," I try again, but cannot say anything.

"He's dead," Mido whispers. The whisper tears through us all and some of my sisters begin to cry and some of my brothers too.

Mido whirls on me. "How _could_ you? It's all your fault!"

"I…I didn't," I sputter.

"Shut up!" Mido screams. As angry as he is, I see fear in him too. He's scared of me and won't come close. "You're covered in blood! It _has_ to be your fault!"

I stare down at myself for the first time to see what Mido and the others see.

My hands are bloody. My boots from Saria are bloody. The bottom of my tunic is bloody. There's blood on my shoulder and blood on the Kokiri Sword. There's blood where I had sat to listen to the tale of our Mother and the two other Goddesses creating the Forest.

I want to retch.

But instead I grab up the Kokiri Sword and the Kokiri Emerald and tear away from the grove.

"Link!" Navi calls. "Wait!"

I don't listen. I don't heed.

"Link!" Saria's voice calls, but I ignore her too.

I am running down the path back into the Village. I am running past the shop. I am running past my siblings' homes. I am running past _my_ home.

I am running _away_ from my home.

I run through the growns' entrance, over a big wood bridge, and continue to run into the trees. Tears streak through the grime on my face.

I am running away from my home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** _The Legend of Zelda_ is the intellectual property of _Nintendo_. I make no money from this work and write it simple for the pure pleasure of daydreaming about the awesome world of Hyrule.

**Author's Notes: **_Skyward Sword _is so much fun.

**Special Thanks **to RedWolf23, Trolly's Bara-chan, and Ciel Orihara for reviewing Chapter 2 and to my sister for taking the time to beta the chapter.

Thanks to anyone patiently waiting for new chapters. My computer seems to be having an argument with the site and won't let my computer upload anything…leaving me to find a computer less pissy towards the website.

**Summary: **My eyes are your eyes. My thoughts are your thoughts. My senses are yours to explore my world. My emotions you will feel as if they were your own. My name is Link and for the duration of this story, it will be yours as well.

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>You Are Here<br>Chapter 3  
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I wake to find a blanket of Wolfos fur wrapped around me. I am leaning against a tree. Navi's in my lap, underneath a fold of the blanket.

Where did the blanket come from?

I'd ran away from the Village. I had ran until I dropped. I remember throwing up all my breakfast too. Then I got up and ran for the river. I had all but fallen into the water and began trying to get rid of all the blood. I did get mostly clean and I cleaned up my sword and the Emerald too. I had wanted all the blood to be gone.

Stains remain on my clothes and boots.

I still feel dirty.

I look around me and my heart jolts.

"…Saria."

She sleeps next to me, underneath her own blanket. Iren's snuggled up in the fold of Saria's blanket much like Navi is.

Saria came after me. I sniff slightly, tears forming at the corner of my eyes. I rub them away and shift slightly to get the blanket up to my chin, minding Navi.. I stare dully at the tree across from me. I don't want to think. My thoughts return to the Great Deku Tree and to the curse of Queen Gohma.

I defeated the curse monster, but I didn't succeed at saving the Great Deku Tree. In the end, I lost. Father's dead now. I lost. No matter the Great Deku Tree's praise for breaking the curse, it didn't matter.

'_What do I do now?' _I wonder. _'Even with Father's instructions…. What good can I really do if I couldn't save Father?'_

"Link?"

I turn my head to face Saria. Her deep blue eyes stare worriedly at me.

"Hi," is all I can think of to say.

"Are you okay?" She asks.

"No," I reply. I feel miserable. I don't want to talk about it. "Do you know where Hyrule Castle is? Father said I needed to go there and find a 'Princess of Destiny'." I hesitate. "Do you know what that is? I'm supposed to meet 'her' at that castle place, so I guess it's a person."

"I don't know anything about a Princess of Destiny, but I've heard of a Hyrule Castle before," Saria says, "It's the place where growns live. I've heard some of the growns who come speak to Father sometimes talk about a place like that."

"But wouldn't that make it outside the Woods?" I ask worriedly. "Kokiri can't leave the Woods or we'll die."

"But you're different from me and my friends, Link," Saria said. "You'll be able to leave the Woods and not die."

I shiver in the confusion brought by her words, "Huh?"

"We'll still be friends, right?" Saria asks.

"Yeah," I say.

"Forever?" She asks. Saria sounds a little desperate.

"Yes," I say.

"That's good," Saria sighs in relief. "I brought some stuff from your house for you—and some food. I knew you'd leave someday, but I didn't think it would be like this. Mido and the others will calm down, but it'll be awhile. You won't be able to visit…."

"It's okay if they're mad. I couldn't save Father even though I broke the curse." I swallow thickly.

Saria looks sad. "They'll calm down, Link. It's not your fault."

I don't reply, even though I'm sure it _is_ my fault. I won and failed.

"Here, take this with you," Saria holds out a clay ocarina. A little piece of green twine with a little blue-purple flower is around the neck of the mouth piece.

"Isn't this your…?"

"I made a second one!" Saria pulls out her own clay ocarina. The flowers are a bright yellow. "One for you and one for me…so we can keep in touch no matter where you go."

"How does it work?" I ask, curious. I like the idea of keeping in contact with Saria. She's right, I won't be able to come back home so long as our siblings are still mad at me.

"You play my song," she explains. "I'll teach it to you."

"Okay." I say, mimicking her when she puts the ocarina to her lips. I know how to play a little. Saria's taught me before when I was smaller and couldn't walk very well.

For a time, the Woods around us are filled with my ammeter piping and Saria's beautiful melodies. We take a break to fix breakfast when Iren and Navi wake up and then restart the ocarina lessons. Saria teaches me the notes and makes me memorize which finger position is what note. Only once I can do that does Saria start teaching me her song.

She tells me it's based on the Woods and when she plays it, I can tell.

The two fairies chatter amongst themselves while I learn Saria's song. My first attempts to play it fall short and I mess up. It feels a little like the Woods are cringing when I do, so I strive harder to perfect the song.

When I play it right for the first time, an hour after lunch, there's a weird sort of pinprick on the side of my forehead. I clap my hand over it in surprise, thinking maybe I've been bitten by a bug.

"_Can you hear me, Link?"_ Saria's voice rings through my mind. I stare, jaw dropped in shock.

Saria giggles aloud at my expression. _"Come on, you just talk inside your head, like you're thinking to yourself! Give it a try!"_

"O…kay." I squeeze my eyes tight. _"CAN YOU HEAR ME?"_

"Ah!" Saria's hands grab the sides of her head. I jump. She sticks her tongue out at me playfully, one eye shut. _"Too loud, Link! Think quieter."_

"Sorry," I say. _"Is this okay?"_

"_Still a little loud, but much better." _Saria applauds, giggling. I can hear an echo of her laughter inside my mind too. _"Now we'll be able to keep in touch!"_

"_Thanks, Saria,"_ I say in my mind. It's not going to be the same as actually speaking with Saria face-to-face, but at least I'm not going to be entirely separate from my brothers and sisters now.

And just like that, it's time to go. Our smiles fade a little as we realize that. We had been delaying up to that moment.

"I'll walk you as far as I can go!" Saria offers as she helps me pack up. "Oh, there're some extra clothes in the bag I put together for you."

"I'd like that," I reply, "and thanks."

We walk in silence, following Navi and Iren's glows through the trees. Saria grasps my hand and I hold it. We stick close, because these part of the Woods aren't as safe and with the Great Deku Tree dead it's probably even more unsafe.

I catch sight of a Skull Kid chasing us overhead and relax a little. They're the big brothers and sisters of the Kokiri who live in the Village and watch out for us whenever we venture into the Woods. I wonder…will one follow me out to keep protecting me?

I wonder…though I already know somewhere in the back of my head the answer is 'No.'

Saria jerks to a stop when she reaches as far as she can go. The edge of the Forest is in sight. There is an abrupt end to the tree as the earth suddenly rises and a hollowed tree tunnel leading out. I look back at her. I'm inside of the tree tunnel, all but for my hand, which is still holding Saria's.

"I can't go any further," Saria whispers. She pulls her hand away and steps back. My arm falls to my side limply.

"Goodbye," I whisper back.

"Goodbye." Saria replies.

I take a couple steps further into the hollowed trunk, then turn entirely and go forward at a jog. Navi flies ahead through the trunk out into the full force of the sunlight. I hesitate and squint. There are few places in the Woods where the sun shines through in more than leaf-fragmented streams. It takes a moment before I can see the grass beyond the end of the tunnel.

Then I realize there's nothing else to see _but_ grass. It's all open. There's still the tall earth and a few short trees, but all that's near me. Everything _before_ me is open.

Just open, open, open. I want to flee back into the Woods—where there are trees every few steps and the widest open spaces aren't more than a couple dozen feet and the sky isn't a great, endless expanse of blue with fluffy white-gray shapes but the dark green canopy of the trees that filters the sun and rain.

My feet are poised at the tunnel's end. I do not want to step out into all that…that _space._

It's so _open_. It's like there's nothing out there. It's _scary._

"_Who-hoot!_ Well, if it isn't Link!"

My head snaps up and I catch sight of a pair of bright yellow eyes. I yelp in shock and fall backwards into the tunnel.

"Hello, Kaepora Gaebora!" Navi greets. She settles on my shoulder and gives a bow to the giant owl.

"Sorry, you scared me," I say breathlessly. I stand shakily and give a bow of my own, nearly dislodging Navi in the process. I murmur an apology. "Where are all the trees, Mister Gaebora?"

Kaepora Gaebora visits the Kokiri Village quite often. He tells us Kokiri stories. I always enjoy his visits.

The owl flaps his great wings and settles on the grass. His head swivels so his feather markings appear as if they're his eyes and his eyes appear as if they're the feather markings.

"I apologize, Link," the owl says humbly. "Such plains must be a startling sight for one who has lived all his life in the woods."

"Plains?" I ask as I stand up again.

"Plains, yes. It's what you call a stretch of flat, dry land such as what is before you," Mister Gaebora stretches a wing to indicate the great emptiness before them. "It is a type of terrain."

I blink, "Terrain?"

"It's how the lands look. A forest has many, tall trees clustered together—as the home of your childhood. A plain looks like what lies before you," he explains.

Mister Gaebora's other wing extends and curls around my back. He brings me unwillingly out from the tunnel—the last part of the Woods. I let out an undignified squeak and blush hotly.

"No need to be embarrassed, young Link," the owl hoots with sympathetic laughter. "Why, I remember when I first flew from my nest! That there was so much space above and below my branch was a surprise—but I grew to love it quickly. The sky at night is especially lovely!"

His words are comforting and I begin to calm down. With his wing around me, the open land and sky aren't so scary either.

"Where is it you are headed?" Mister Gaebora asks.

"Hyrule Castle," Navi answers cheerfully.

"_Who_-Why, that is some distance," Mister Gaebora's head swivels upright again. "But you've courage aplenty, young Link. Just head straight north and you'll be fine!"

I nod. It seems the only thing I can do.

I look north. I'll be going straight away from the Woods. I feel like there's no going back, somehow. And with the way my brothers and sisters are angry (sans Saria) at me, it feels like leaving is even more final than ever.

I adjust the bag Saria put together for me, shuffle my feet, and take a deep breath.

The owl's wings extend and I back away to give him the space he needs to take off. He leaps into the air, touching briefly to the top of the log tunnel, and flaps hurriedly to keep himself airborne.

"Remember your courage, young Link, and you'll carry through even the darkest of times," Mister Gaebora says in parting. I wave and the owl disappears into the trees of the Lost Woods.

"This way, Link!" Navi calls, speeding off through the air northwards. I follow hurriedly, not wanting to fall behind.

There's not much to see for a long time. All Navi and I do is walk north and eventually come across a rough semblance of a road. There are places like this where we Kokiri and other forest dwellers walk upon that have been packed down in the same way. Navi says if we stay on it, we might run into growns, but we didn't.

We did see a few creatures Navi tells me are called 'Peahats'. They have sharp, stiff leaf-blades that support their flight and also act like weapons. There are little ones and big ones, the young and adults respectively. Navi and I avoid them, though they're pretty easy to outrun and they don't chase us too far.

The emptiness of these plains is distracting and makes me uneasy. The sun falls in the sky, turning the sky a bunch of pretty colors I've never seen before. Dusk makes the sky a lot less imposing.

Night falls and the sky lights up with a bunch of bright points that are all different colors to my eyes. And there's a bigger pale yellow-white light. I've seen stars before through the trees before but never so many all at once.

This is my first time seeing the moon.

We stop for the night on the road and curl up in a blanket after eating a little bit of the food Saria had packed. Navi points out shapes in the stars and tells me about her God and Goddess—her own Parents.

Father Solis the first Fairy King, and Mother Lunae the first Great Fairy. The Sun tossed His sunlight as tokens of affection to the Moon, who wore them throughout the night, illuminating more and more of Her face. Then, She began to wane, the drops of sunlight falling to the earth and giving birth to many more Fairy Kings and Great Daughters.

That's how the fairy race was born.

I feel honored to know of the beginnings of those who have guided my siblings in friendship. I wonder if Iren has ever told Saria….

Navi and I drift off to sleep.

But it's not the sun that wakes us up. We awake to a clattering of bone I did not expect to hear outside the Woods. I sit upright and stare out into darkness catching the glimpse of five pairs of glowing red eyes set in dried skulls. My mouth drops open. I did not expect to see Stalchildren away from the Woods. Not that I see them often within the Woods either. Stalfos and Stalchildren are guardians of the Kokiri. They're like the Gardener, only it's possible to stumble across piles of bones quite often or glimpse their remains moving through the trees without need to worry something's wrong.

But they normally don't approach us the way these Stalchildren are approaching me now. They normally just collapse.

"Link, we need to go," Navi whispers worriedly in my ear.

"Just Stalchildren," I reply in normal volume.

"But these aren't the Lost Woods guardians, Link!" Navi hisses. "We need to go! Or they'll attack us!"

"What are you talking about, Navi?" I ask her in dismay. I stare at her. "They're only Stalchildren."

"This isn't the Lost Woods, Link!" Navi insists. "The dead only protect the Kokiri in_side_ of the Woods!"

My eyes shift to the Stalchildren uncertainly. Only inside of the Woods?

Navi's words prove true when one leaps forwards, claws flashing towards my head. I cry out and fall to my back and clutch for my sword.

Confusion and fear cause me to draw it and slash half-heartedly at the Stalchild. The blade grates against bone, sending a chilling sound into the air along with the angry clatter of jaws. Navi flies around the head, illuminating the monster in front of me. I strike again, cutting through the spine.

The Stalchild collapses in on itself and burns up in blue fire. Navi's light darts over to another Stalchild and I spin around to face a different Stalchild that's much too close. I cut at it, fear for myself overriding everything else and driving me to slash at my attackers.

When the Stalchildren have all burned away into ash a wave of nausea passes over me and I collapse to my knees.

The Stalchildren protect the Kokiri, but these just attacked me. Because they only protect us in the Woods? I'm far from home now.

"Link, we need to find a safer place for the night."

I look up at her bright light and stumble around in the dark, gather my things, and follow Navi.

More Stalchildren claw their way out of the ground a few minutes later, but they're easy to run from. I don't think I can fight them again. I don't _want_ to fight them again.

The Stalchildren should protect me. Why are they dangerous away from the Lost Woods? It doesn't make sense!

I don't know how long we run. I stumble through dips in the ground and trip over rocks, but can keep on my feet. I'm too scared to fall and let the Stalchildren catch up. I don't want to fight them.

Navi swerves suddenly and I follow her movement.

"Link, up here!" Navi calls, hovering inside of a hollow in a rise in the earth. It's not very high, but it's higher than the ground. I jump for it, grabbing the edge and try to scramble up. Sharp finger bones claw at my ankle. I yelp and lose my footing on the earth and slip a little. I kick wildly; my boots strike bone. The Stalchild falls back with a cackle. I scramble again at the wall and get up into the hollow.

My heart pounds and I stare down at the Stalchildren clustering below. They can't jump very high, so they can't get me at all, but I don't even understand why they would want to. Death safeguards life. That's how it's supposed to be! It's not supposed to take it!

I don't understand!

I bite my lip and try to wedge myself deeper into the hollow. It's not deep enough to risk trying to sleep here, so I stay awake, with Navi cuddling close, and stare numbly at the Stalchildren until the sun rises and burns them to ash.

Once they're gone, I climb down and walk a short distance. I collapse and fall asleep in moments.


End file.
